Jazz Reviews : Sounding Off on Tuesdays : Opening the Cannery’s new weekly slot, Jack Wood and company bring back jazz to Newport Beach for an enthusiastic audience.

NEWPORT BEACH — After Jack Wood sang a spirited version of “On the Street Where You Live,” many people seated in the comfy upstairs lounge at the Cannery applauded, as they had in similar spots in other numbers during the first set.

Their warm response, which gave the room a party-like atmosphere, probably was due as much to the simple fact that Wood and his ace jazz quartet were there as to the quality of the music.

The Cannery, you see, has never been a jazz spot. Karaoke is featured Mondays and Wednesdays, and a Top 40 band plays Thursdays through Saturdays. With the closing last year of the nearby Cafe Lido, some of the restaurant’s older clientele (read: over 30) had been asking Cannery owner Bill Hamilton and general manager Teri Hatleberg where to go for jazz.

“There was a vacuum in our area,” Hatleberg said, and since “jazz sets a wonderful mood,” the restaurant has decided to try it once a week, on Tuesdays.

They plan to feature Wood with a trio and, occasionally, a guest artist. Last week, pianist George Gaffney, bassist Luther Hughes and drummer Paul Kreibich were the rhythm section, and Buddy Childers guested on trumpet and fluegelhorn.

Wood and company, parked on the bandstand at the west wall of the lounge, gave it a dandy christening for about 50 listeners--the room holds about 70--with a variety of classic pop and jazz material.

The evening opened with three instrumentals from the quartet as it segued from “All the Things You Are” to a bristling version of Thelonious Monk’s “Straight, No Chaser.” There, Childers--whose career started with Stan Kenton’s orchestra in 1943, but who functions much better in a small band--offered his warm, alluring fluegelhorn tone, issuing brief, rhythmic phrases that were juxtaposed with the now-and-then galloping burst.

Gaffney, for many years Sarah Vaughan’s favorite accompanist, played with his usual poise, mixing hard-swinging lines with more fluid be-bop-bent ideas. “Thou Swell” found Childers working even more softly, and with greater intimacy, as if he were talking to the listener about the beauties in this timeless Rodgers and Hart piece.

Throughout these numbers and later behind Wood, Hughes and Kreibich provided keen support, and the bassist--one of the top soloists on his instrument--improvised with the supple, ringing lines for which he’s so highly regarded.

Wood, a reliable tenor with good pitch, works within the jazz-influenced pop genre of a Jack Jones or Vic Damone--two of his heroes. Last week, he began with a vibrant look at “Days of Wine and Roses,” concluded with two from “My Fair Lady”-- “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” and “The Street Where You Live”--and in between dropped in “ ‘S Wonderful” and “My Funny Valentine.”

Gaffney’s arrangement of “ ‘S Wonderful” was delivered at a relaxed bossa-nova pace, with Wood letting the lyrics fall in some unexpected spots, as he did on “The Street Where You Live.” “I Remember You” also had pizazz.

The singer and his musicians sounded good in the Cannery’s lounge, a room built of wood, with old metal furnishings reflecting its former life as the home of Western Canners, which packed mackerel from 1921 to 1961.

According to Childers, the musicians felt great. “It’s the best room I’ve been in in a long time,” he said after the first set.

The lounge looks good, too. The motif of the various metal shapes--wheels, pipes and wires from the building’s cannery days--fits well with the rough-finished look of wood floor and walls, while teeming plants and strands of small white lights add color.

About half of the room’s seats are by the bay, so one can look out at the water while enjoying the sounds. A dinner menu is available until 10 p.m., with a snack menu until midnight. There’s a full bar and a variety of beers and wines by the glass.

The Cannery plans to continue its jazz nights with Wood indefinitely.

* Jazz on Tuesdays at the Cannery, 3010 LaFayette Ave. (between 32nd and 30th streets), Newport Beach. 8:30 to midnight. No cover, no minimum. (714) 675-5777.